Saturday, March 22, 12:00 PM on NHL, SunS, ROOT

CONSOL Energy Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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The Penguins are making a late run at home ice throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs but will need a victory over the surging Lightning to keep the chances at catching Boston alive. Tampa Bay on the other hand has turned it around just when it looked like they were going to limp into their own playoff run.

Pittsburgh is trailing Boston by only 5 points for the #1 seed but with only 14 games left in the regular season. The Penguins may be a distracted bunch in their Saturday afternoon battle with the Lightning as they'll be coming off a Thursday night matchup with Detroit while immediately heading out to St. Louis for a Sunday matchup with the Blues. Either way Pittsburgh will look to buck their mundane play as of late, going 5-5 over a recent 10 day stretch which included back to back losses to the Flyers.

Tampa Bay is currently slotted to play Montreal in the first round of the playoffs and both teams are neck and neck for who holds home ice. After 5 straight losses Tampa Bay was able to turn it around to knock down 4 straight victories, although they were heavy favorites in each.

The two teams met once this season with Pittsburgh able to pitch a shutout by winning 3-0 on November 29th. Chris Kunitz got on the board 6 minutes into the game and added an empty netter at 18:17 to salt the victory. The Penguins were road favorites that day but were able to pay off on the -137 money line.

ATS Trends

Tampa Bay is 17-18  straight up on the road this season

Tampa Bay is 15-20-0 against the over/under on the road this season

Pittsburgh is 25-7 straight up at home this season

Pittsburgh is 18-13-1against the over/under at home this season

Injuries to Watch

Tampa Bay 

10/12/13 D Brian Lee Knee out indefinitely

Pittsburgh 

12/23/13 RW Pascal Dupuis Knee out for season
02/25/14 RW Beau Bennett Wrist expected to miss another 3-4 weeks
02/25/14 RW Chris Conner Foot out 4-6 weeks
02/21/14 D Paul Martin Hand expected to miss a month
02/07/14 D Kris Letang Heart out indefinitely

Tony's Pick: Take Pittsburgh

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